Method of making shoes.



L. F. MAHLER. METHOD OF M'HUNG SHOES.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 8. 1915- LOUIS F. MJDER, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOE, TO CHAMPION SHOE MACHINERY COMPANY, OF SI. LOUIS, MISSOURI, A OORJPORAIION OF MISSOURI.

METHOD OF MAKING SHOES.

specification of hetters Patent.

Fatnted it or, Twila.

Application filed January h, 1915. Serial No. Lied.

' at St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Methods of Making Shoes, of which til the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a method of making shoes, and more particularly, to a method of attaching the soles to welt shoes.

In a Goodyear welt shoe the outsole is at tached to the upper and insole through the medium of a welt. The insole has a channel lip against which the upper is lasted, and the welt, upper and insole are seamed together by a seam passing through the welt, upper and channel lip. Now, since the upper and outsoleare attached to the insole through this channel lip, it is, of course, necessary to use a good grade of leather for the insole and the wcl Many attempts have been made to attach the welt to a McKay lasted upper by a seam passing through the welt,'upper and insole, so as to permit the use of medium grade and low grade insoles and welting, but without success, for the reason that it is exceedingly dificult. and, as a matter of fact, practically impossible to properly position the welt on such an upper with the required accuracy.

In the manufacture of welt shoes, as heretofore practised, it was not possible to position the Welt so as to have an accurate given contour. It has, therefore, been the practice to merely block out the outsole to a size considerably larger than the finished sole, and then, after this outsole is laid, to rou it round the outsole and welt, gaging from t e upper on the last. This not only resulted in a waste of material, but required also one or more extra operations.

"One of the objects of this invention is to develop a method of attaching soles to shoes, in which the welt is positioned to conform accurately to the contour of the outsole, and in which this welt, so positioned, is attached to the lasted upper.

Another object is to develop a method in which the outsole is shaped or died out to finished form, so as to eliminate the waste of material and labor.

Further objects will appear from the detail description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a shoe made in accordance with this method;

Fig. 2 is a face view of the outsole having the welt attached thereto;

Fig. 3 is a cross section of the shoe;

Fig. i is a section on the line 4%. Fig. 3;

lglig. 5 is an enlarged section of Fig. 4; an

Figs. 6 and 7 are detail sections similar to Fig. 3, but showing different detail steps of the method.

Referring to the accompanying drawing, 10 designates the upper, 11 the insole, 12 the welt, and 13 the outsole of a welt shoe. The welt is attached to the lasted upper by a metallic fastener seam comprising metallic fasteners 14: passing through the welt, upper and insole. The outsole it attached to the welt by a seam 15, which is preferably a lock stitch seam, and a filling 16, of cork or any other suitable material, fills the s ace between the insole and the outsole. I he fastener '14 is preferably of the form shown in U. S. Patent #1972213, September 2, 191.3, but the fastener is preferably provided with a laterally extending head 18, engaging the welt, as described in an application 0 George A. Dobyne, Serial No. 515, filed J an. 4 1915.

The method of making the shoe, and, particularly, the method of attaching the sole thereto, will now be described. The upper is lasted over the insole, preferably in accordance with the usual Mcliay method, so that the edges of the upper will lap over the face of the insole. This is, of course, done on a last. The outsole is died out to finished shape, so as to have the form that it finally has on the complete shoe. The welt is now laidon and stitched to the outsole, as shown in Fig. 2, so as to conform to the contour thereof. This is accomplished by means of a lock-stitch sewing machine, provided with a stitch down table havlng a welt guide and guiding the work by the outside edge of the outsole. In this way the welt can be accurately laid on and secured to the outsole, without the necessity of slashing'the welt, so that the outer edge of the welt will conform accurately to the edge of the outsole. The outsole and its attached Welt are now molded to finished shape, and, if desired, the space inside of the welt on the outsole may be filled with the cork filling at this time. The composite outsole, consisting of the outsole proper and its attached welt, is now laid on the lasted upper and temporarily secured by a few nails driven along the center of the sole. The shoe'being on the last at this time, the solecan be laid accurately on the outsole by the operator. This can be accomplished by hand, the operator grasping the shoe, bottom up, with the thumbs resting on the outsole and gaging the outsole with the fingers and by eye. If desired, however, any suitable sole positioning device may be used. The last is now withdrawn from the shoe, and the welt attached to the lasted upper. This welt attaching operation is preferably performed on the Universal clench machine, shown and described in U. S. Patent #1,091,298, March 24, 1914. The driver and awl of this machine are adjusted so that the fastener will be inserted or driven completely through the outsole until its head has passed completely through the outsole and engages and clamps the welt, as shown in Fig. 5. The fasteners can be so driven without difliculty, even if the thickness of the insole, upper and welting varies somewhat, for the reason that, while the laterally extending head of the fastener will pass readily through the awl hole 17, it will be stopped, after it passes through the outsole, by the welt, and will compress the composite layer of welt, upper and insole considerably before it starts to sink into the welt. The object, of course, is to drive the fastener so that its laterally extending head will engage but not sink into the welt. During the welt attaching operation the shoe is guided by an edge gage engaging the edge of the outsole, so that the welt attachin seam will be positioned by the contour 0 the outsole. This gage can be made shiftable, in the usual manner, so as to provide for the difierent extensions of the outsole with respect to the upper. After the sole has been attached by the Welt attaching seam, the shoe is finished in the usual manner, including the leveling operations. In this leveling operation, the roll leveler is preferably used, since it will practically close the holes 17. Thereafter an emboss-' ing wheel is run around the edge of the sole so as to obliterate the holes 17. Although the welt is accurately positioned with respect to the contour of the outsole, it

is preferable, as in the manufacture of all welt shoes, to finish the shape of the sole on a sole edge trimmer.

In accordance with the embodiment of the method described above, the fasteners are driven through an unchanneled outsole. and the awl and nail holes are obliterated by rolling and embossing. In accordance with the embodiments as illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7, the fasteners are driven in a channel, and the channel lip is then turned down to cover up the holes. In Fig. dis shown an English channel, and 20 designates the channel flap. In Fig. 7 is shown the ordinary channel flap 21, which covers up the nail holes, as well as the edge stitching 15.

In accordance with the above method, the welt is positioned to conform accurately to the contour of the outsole, and both the welt and outsole are positioned accurately on the lasted upper. This can be readily accomplished, for the reason that the welt is conformed and attached to the outsole before this outsole is attached to the shoe. This method permits 2. died outsole to be used, thereby eliminating both the waste of material and the extra rough rounding operation required in shoes as heretofore constructed. This saving in material and labor is a large item, especially since shoes are manufactured in large quantities but on a low margin of profit. The insertion of the welt attaching fasteners through the outsole not only permits an accurate positioning of the welt and outsole, but also permits an accurate positioning of the welt attaching seam, since this seam is gaged from the edge of the outsole. This method, moreover, produces a shoe having tight and strong seams, and permits the use of low grade welting and insoles, since the seain passes through and through the materia with this method, all gaging is done from the edge of the died outsole, which has an accurate contour. It will be noted that this method produces a true welt shoe, that is, a shoe in which the welt is attached to the lasted up er and the outsole by separate and independent seams.

It .is obvious that various changes may be made in the details of the method without departing from the spirit of this invention. It is, therefore, to be understood that this invention is not to be limited to the specific details shown and described.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

1. The method of attaching soles to shoes, comprising assembling a lasted upper, a welt and an outsole, and attaching the welt to the lasted upper by inserting fasteners through the outsole so that the fasteners will be free of the outsole, thereby forming an inseam.

2. The method of attaching soles to shoes, comprising attaching a welt to an outsole,

aeaeaa tit and thereafter attaching the welt to a lasted upper.

.3. The method of attaching soles. to shoes, comprising attaching a welt to an outsole, and thereafter attaching the welt to a lasted upper by inserting fasteners through the outsole.

4. The'method of attaching soles to shoes, comprising layinga welt and an outsole on a lasted upper, and attaching the welt to the lasted upper by a seam which is free of the outsole, thereby forming an inseam.

5, The method of attaching soles to shoes, comprising laying a welt and an outsole on a lasted upper, and attaching the welt to the lasted upper by inserting welt attaching fasteners through the outsole so that the fasteners will be free of the outsole, thereby forming an inseam.

6. The method of attaching soles to shoes, comprising conforming a welt to the contour of an outsole, laying the welt and outsole on a lasted upper, and attaching the Welt to the lasted upper by inserting fasteners through the outsole.

7. The method of attaching soles to shoes,

7 4 comprising laying a welt on an outsole, having a shape approximating its final shape, to conform the welt to the contour of the outsole, laying the welt and outsole on a lasted upper,'and attaching the Welt to the lasted upper by inserting fasteners through the outsole..

8. The method of attaching soles to shoes,

comprising conforming a Welt to the contour of an outsolle, having a shape approximating its final shape, laying the welt and shaped outsole on a lasted upper, and attaching the welt to ,the lasted upper. 9. The method of attaching soles to shoes, comprising attaching a welt to an outsole, having a contour approximating its final contour, and thereafter attaching the welt to a lasted upper, v 10. The method of attaching soles to shoes, comprising conforming a weltto the contour of an outsole, laying the welt and outsole on a lasted upper, and attaching the welt to the lasted upper by an inseam.

11. The method of attaching soles to shoes, comprising laying a welt and an outsole on a lasted upper, attaching the welt to the lasted upper by a seam, which is free of the outsole, and gaging the position of the Welt attaching seam-by the contour of the outsole.

12. The method of attaching soles to shoes, comprising attaching a welt to an outsole, thereafter attaching the welt to a lasted upper by a seam, and gaging the position. of the welt attaching sea by the contour of the outsole.

In testimony whereof T a my signature in the presence of these two witnesses.

LUTJTS i ER.

Witnesses:

' J. N. BRUNINGER,

Gnoncn S; To, 

